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Designing technology with older people

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Abstract

Designing applications to support older people in their own homes is increasing in popularity and necessity. The increase in supporting older people in the community means that cash-strapped resources are required to be utilised in the most effective manner, which often lends itself to technology deployment, rather than human deployment as the former is perceived as more cost effective. Therefore, the concern arises as to how technology can be designed inclusively and acceptably to the people who are to receive it. This paper discusses the issue of design, and how these concerns have been addressed in a series of projects targeted towards directly supporting people in the community.

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Acknowledgments

This work has been partially funded by Microsoft Research as part of their “Create, Play and Learn” collaborative research programme and partially funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council as part of the DIRC Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration. We would also like to thank the participants from Age Concern Carnforth.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Computing Department, Lancaster University, Infolab 21, South Drive, Lancaster, LA1 4WA, UK

    Guy Dewsbury, Mark Rouncefield, Victor Onditi & Peter Bagnall

  2. School of Computer Science, St Andrews University, North Haugh, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9SX, UK

    Ian Sommerville

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  1. Guy Dewsbury
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  2. Mark Rouncefield
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  3. Ian Sommerville
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  4. Victor Onditi
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  5. Peter Bagnall
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Correspondence to Guy Dewsbury.

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Dewsbury, G., Rouncefield, M., Sommerville, I. et al. Designing technology with older people. Univ Access Inf Soc 6, 207–217 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-007-0079-7

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